Who created the Pokémon franchise that began with the 1996 video games?

Satoshi Tajiri created the Pokémon franchise that began with the 1996 video games.

Tajiri grew up collecting insects, an interest that inspired Pokémon’s central idea: finding, collecting, and trading creatures. He founded Game Freak, first as a fanzine and later as a video-game development company, with artist Ken Sugimori.

Tajiri pitched the Pokémon concept to Nintendo after seeing the potential of the Game Boy’s link cable. The cable allowed players to exchange creatures between separate systems, making trading a core feature rather than a side activity.

A common mix-up is crediting Nintendo alone with creating Pokémon. Nintendo published and helped finance the games, but the franchise was created through the work of Tajiri and Game Freak, with Creatures also involved in the original development. Shigeru Miyamoto served as an important mentor and producer, not the franchise’s creator.